At least the oil companies know how to turn a profit. That's more then I can say for...ohhh, companies like GM. Some just hate the idea of a company actually making $$. Well, they hate it until a company they work for goes under, and tehn they realize that profitable companies produce jobs, and lots of them.
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I think what we really need is a guy like Rex Tillerman (CEO of Exxon/mobile) to be President! Now there is a guy who knows how to run a business. Instead we elect career politicians who have never run a thing.

Here is link showing pricing at various terminals throughout the midwest. This is roughly what the stations pay. Plus they have to add on the 51.3 cent gas tax.

http://www.axxispetro.com/download/wisco...

How do the oil companies satisfy their investors after reporting billions of dollars in record profits last quarter?
Easy, report trillions of dollars in profits the following quarter. Simple economics.

This is just in now asian markets have been open for A while today and oil has been below $92 A barrell and its the first time its been below $100 A barrell since March 4th! Gas was 2.299 when oil was $102 A barrel so what gives? Mind you these prices are for sweet crude with October deliveries, Hey guess what its still sept and what where our costs back in late July? Its no wonder we are all going broke, Somebody has to step in and step up and once there STOMP ON! These Gas prices are way out of line!

Think about it. $4.00 gas?!!!!! The increase was very sudden and drastic. Unacceptable.

Our country always has a means to help itself, but we don't do so. Why is that?! We can simply put pressure on OPEC, deal harder with other nations through tariffs, begin using our own resources, etc. Probably lots of things. But all you here is literal mumbo jumbo coming from the powers to be. Why can't we break free. I watch and listen to several news sources daily, and no sense is ever made.
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So do what I do....(it's all I know enough about!)....I have power as a consumer, right? I simply refuse to use more than the minimum amount of fuel. I have purchased less than $30.00 in gas in 7 weeks. Minus what I already had in the tanks of course. I also apply my thinking to other products such as the rediculous number of store bought items made in China! Really, stop and look even closer sometimes. We can make a bigger affect on the other nations just by deciding where we spend! I personally look for as much American made as possible. Bring the energy resources, products, and jobs back home-now! Everything would benefit as a ripple effect. Tell me what you think....

Now for the last 2 or 3 months our next Presidential candidates have been telling us is that we haven't been able to use our gulf oil and that forien countries have been sucking it up! So this has to make me ask are we paying more for them or our we we paying more for what we might get someday? Either way pump prices should have stayed where they were! Hell when oil traded at $145 A barrell it was cheaper than it is now!

The last time gas shot up so fast for no reason was 9-11 come on I think we learned then and AH YES WE DID AND THATS WHY THE PRICES ARE THIS HIGH!

booch11, you called yourself an idiot. I only said your proposal was a fantasy.
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I don't have to prove anything. I only have to show the analysis of federal experts working for the U.S. Department of Energy, that is to say, the Bush administration. The maximum benefit of ANWR oil production would not be felt until perhaps 2028, and the maximum impact on oil price would be about $1.44 per barrel. That is to say, a nickel a gallon.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/nati...
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Since you are concerned about American jobs, as am I, let's agree on that as a goal. We could make US vehicle fleets competitive by raising the fuel economy to European and Japanese levels. We can do that right now. If we put vehicles on the road that use less fuel, we can be saving FIVE TIMES the annual production from ANWR estimated by the U.S. government within ten years, ten years sooner than ANWR production would peak. The White House says that CAFE standard improvements could save 8 billion barrels of gas annually -- nearly the entire exploitable capacity of ANWR, every year and thereafter.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunio...
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The greatest energy savings in any system does not come from outside, but from conservation within that system.
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Comparing conservation to drilling, the conservation approach wins handily. It will put savings directly in the hands of consumers. It will reduce demand on gas refining capacity, and demand for imports. It will build manufacturing skills for the 21st century and beyond. And it "produces" much more gasoline by any measure.
http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportation/g...
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/sol...

I have worked in several sectors of the oil business(no longer). I can tell you that most gas stations are at the mercy of the wholesalers. Prices can go up and down as much as $.25 a day. So if you are a small local gas station and you need to order your gas for the week, it is all about timing. Nothing else. One of the reasons I left the oil and gas business is the extreme lack of profits on the retailer side. Most smaller stations survive on the sales of candy/snacks/soda, certainly not gas. If you really want to pin the blame on high fuel costs look at the amount of taxes you pay on each gallon, in Wisconsin it amounts to around a dollar per gallon. As if we didn't have enough to worry about!

prices went up due to a supply issue.
for those who think this is a myth, google "untapped oil reserves."
you'll discover dozens of stories like this one, "Untapped Oil Reserves Could Fuel U.S. For 300 Years"
but, i'm conservative and therefore an idiot who does not think our energy policy should be determined by our enemies or ratcheted up due to a natural disaster.
hurricanes are savaging the Alaskan shoreline as i write this, aren't they?
and call me foolish for wanting great paying jobs to stay in this country (drilling stateside, in alaska and in close proximity of our shores certainly would NEVER produce good jobs).
nor would drilling help lower the price of a gallon of gas as, since the supply would be dramatically increased, the law of supply and demand couldn't possibly work for oil.
and the price of bread wouldn't go down either.
and the high price of fuel certainly had no effect on GM either.
so janesvillean, i'm an idiot.
you're liberal -- and therefore much, much smarter. as a part of the great unwashed, i really apologize for even attempting to present facts.
please forgive me.
PS
how is that ethanol mandate working out for you?

Wholesale Gas on the NYMEX peaked on Friday at $2.87/gallon. It is now at $2.51/gallon and dropping. Any supply issues are NOT being reflected in the wholesale market. The $.36/gallon drop in price should be reflected in consumer prices soon (often a day or two lag for price drops...no such problems for increases).

booch11, we don't have enough unexploited oil, in Alaska, the Gulf, or the California coast, to make that kind of a difference. It's just rhetoric. Besides, this is a localized supply problem primarily affecting the South and Midwest. The oil or gas has to have a way to get here.
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But you can believe in your magical simple fantasy solutions if you like. I won't stop you.

WiSpedTeacher:
please vote on nov 11th!!!!
please.
i'm guessing voter turnout will be terrible that day.

WiSpedTeacher remember the saying the blind lead the blind and they all fall in the ditch.
if we get a repuke for president then we can have another great depression .

$.20 jump in less than 24 hours... that's a little beyond ridiculous to me... hurricane or no hurricane...

so, we get a bad storm that wreaks havoc on the oil supply, forcing prices to spike throughout the US.

Wouldn't make sense to drill in Alaska and out in the wild west so our economy would not be so affected by the annual hurricane season?

or unrest in russia?

or unrest in the middle east?

The gas prices started going up before the hurricane hit.. This is pure bullsh*t! I hope everyone remembers this when they go to vote Nov. 11th! We can't stand anymore of this right-winged crap!

mobile in Newville (hwy 59) $3.75

East Troy (McDonalds)was $4.48 Saturday night.

The hurricane isn't the only reason that prices are higher (and will likely climb even higher). You can also thank OPEC. It was just last week that the group decided to cut production because it did not like the price of oil dropping. That translates thus: >>> OPEC cuts production >>> gas prices climb at U.S. pumps. Gee, thanks to our fellow Americans who just had to teach democracy to the rest of the world.

I agree with MrScott, all good points. Also, there are supertankers stacked up in the Atlantic and Gulf that cannot unload in many Gulf Ports, including New Orleans, Lake Charles, and Houston. With less places (ports and refineries) to go with crude, the price falls...for CRUDE, not for GASOLENE, which cannot be produced from that crude and therefore is in demand.
Maybe the energy world is a little larger than (no offense intended JCK) the Mobil station in Newville.

It's getting ridiculous.

Thursday the gas at Newville Mobile was $3.59. Friday it was $3.79. This morning at 9am it was $3.99 and when I drove past again at noon it was $3.79.

What is all this talk about turning in gas stations for gouging for raising prices? As long as they don't raise the price more than one time in 24 hours, they can raise it virutally as much as they want. Yes, the price per barrel of crude is going down, but wholesale prices are going up because production has halted at a major refinery in the US. Crude dropped again today after news that there was no major damage to the rigs in the gulf or the refineries along the coast. However, they won't be able to continue refining until power is restored which could take days or weeks.

Whitewater was $4.08 on Saturday already.

woodsman, the strategic petroleum reserve is unprocessed oil. To become gasoline it still needs to go through a refinery, and there is no excess refinery capacity to make up for the ones that are shut down. Since 1/4 of the U.S. refineries are in the Gulf region a hurricane can severely impact the supply of refined gasoline. In any case, the reserve is a tiny fraction of U.S. petroleum needs.

sounds like this is what the lib,s want higher gas prices. cant wait till the dem,s get in the white house to see the gas price,s go thrugh the roof. dril dril dril

On Saturday at Flying J in South Beloit they were at 3.97 about 2 hours later it was 4.15. Other areas in Rockford were anywhere from 4.15 to as high as 4.89 This is crap.

My parents called and said gas in far northern wisconsin is $4.29. They should be turned in for gouging

I'm not happy about it, but supply and demand work this way.
I have been in contact with a relative who works in the oil industry in the Gulf. Most facilities in Louisiana and Texas that are onshore, and over 3,500 offshore, have been shut down since before hurricane Gustav almost three weeks ago. Also, no "supertankers" are coming in or going out.
There may not be immediate shortages now but, rest assured, there will be soon.
The good news is that the damages from Gustav and Ike are not as bad as predicted.

Woodman's gas station was taking FULL advantage of Hurricane Ike! When everyone else jumped to $3.79, they went up to $3.99. I sure hope someone reported them for gas gouging!!

The news said the reserve is being used,so their IS NO shortage. Sounds more like the same old s--t at the pumps,RICH GET RICHER!!!!